


The Sea Duck

by agentz123



Series: Who is Donald Duck? [6]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), Legend of the Three Caballeros (Cartoon)
Genre: Badass Donald Duck, Gen, Grumpy Scrooge, I Suck At Tagging But I'm Trying, Letters to Family, Lullaby References, Slight LOTC AU, The American Education System Sucks but We Been Knew, Three Cabs References, Will be developed more later, grammar lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26058694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentz123/pseuds/agentz123
Summary: Donald and his uncle Scrooge argue over the definition of adventure.Title courtesy of Disney'sTalespin:)
Relationships: Della Duck & Donald Duck, Duckworth & Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck & Donald Duck
Series: Who is Donald Duck? [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890283
Comments: 33
Kudos: 112





	1. Misadventures and Misunderstandings

Della shoved a forkful of potatoes into her mouth. “So, Uncle Scrooge. When did you start adventuring, again?”

“Aye, I was a wee lad. Younger than the two of ye, I believe. I left Glasgow when I was about thirteen in search of a life of riches, and...yep. That’s the start of how I became the greatest adventurer in the world. The rest is history.” 

“Ancient history,” Della chuckled, accidentally spitting on Donald’s bill. Before he could smack her, Duckworth was there with a napkin, blocking his line of vision. He redirected his anger towards his uncle’s absurdity. “You think _you’re_ the greatest adventurer in the entire world?”

“Of course I am! I’m _Scrooge McDuck_!”

Donald failed to stifle a chortle. 

“What was that, lad?” Scrooge narrowed his eyes and growled, setting down his goblet. 

“Nothing. It’s just that you happen to think highly of yourself.” 

“I should be able to, after all I went through.” 

Donald shrugged, swirling his peas around with his soup spoon. Della elbowed him for having poor manners, and he flicked the back of her hand. “I’m not saying you had it easy growing up. But adventure is more than just treasure.”

It was Scrooge’s turn to laugh. “Is that so, laddie? What do _you_ think adventure is, then?”

His nephew glared at the condescension. “Like I said, not everything is about money. Adventure is...adventure is going out there and doing the right thing, no matter what the consequences are. Or exploring, just for the heck of it. To actually _learn_ something. Oh, and maybe having some fun on the way.” 

“I think you’re just jealous,” Scrooge scoffed. 

Donald stood up and put all of his weight onto the table, craning his neck in an attempt to get his uncle’s undivided attention. “ _Are you even listening to me_?!” He _never_ listens to him. _No one does._

“It’s okay, laddie! You’re not the first wee one aspiring to be me!” Scrooge continued cracking up. “Aw. _Learning._ ”

Donald decided to leave in order to make it easier for Duckworth. “I’ll show you,” he grunted, shoving the older bird, who was nearly turning blue. 

The next morning, Donald enlisted into the navy.


	2. Acceptance

A few weeks later, Donald got his shipment date. And the palooka waited until the night before to actually start packing. Since Della wasn’t going to get any sleep anyway, what with her brother’s curses seeping through the walls every five minutes because something landed on his foot, she decided to go over and bug him for the last time. 

If she managed to convince him to stay (by accident of course), that would’ve been fine, too. 

“So, brother mine.” There was a grunt in response as he started pushing his dresser in order to retrieve something that had fallen behind it. Della started pulling out the drawers to lessen the load, shaking her head and tsking. “Are you sure about this?”

“Yep.” 

Sheesh, Don. Think about it, why don’t you? “So you’re sure about having a bedtime? About having someone boss you around all day and all night?”

“ _Hah_!”

Good one, Della. Idiot. 

“Fine, fine. All right. But are you sure about getting a haircut?” She reached over and ruffled his feathers so that his bangs completely covered his eyes. Don put down an action figure, snatched a pair of scissors that had been dangerously close to stabbing him in the side, and snipped off the excess feathers in one fell swoop. Della’s jaw dropped. “You’ve been growing that stupid thing for _years_!”

“Yeah, well, that’s how sure I am!” 

It hurt Della to say this, because she hated when people brought it up in order to use it as an arguing point. But she had no other choice. " _Don_. You’re only fifteen.” 

“So?” He continued shoving clothes into bags. 

“Well...that’s...that’s…how are you going to go to school?” Don loved school. He wouldn’t wanna miss out on this upcoming semester, would he? 

Donald snorted. “I can learn the really important stuff by reading good books. Did you know that palooka Ms. Featherby won’t even _discuss_ how Frankenstein’s creature stemmed from its master’s fear of women?” 

What? “Oh, I get it. You’re bored. Well...why don’t we go off? Just the two of us, like back in the old days?”

“Because Scrooge won’t take me seriously if we do that. He'd just think that we were just off ‘pretending.’” _Ooh_ , how he hated that guy…

“You don’t even know how to shave!”

“I’ll ask the captain to show me how.” 

“Then they’ll definitely find out that you lied on your application! Which I still don’t get how it was accepted anyway…” she added in a mutter. 

“Not if I ask **like this.** ” Don’s voice had dropped a few registers. “I’m a late bloomer.” 

“In more ways than one…”  
“Shut it!” 

Ah, she was going to miss this! A lot. She was quiet for a moment before asking, “Well...what if you…” He stopped skimming through some of his old reports when he noticed that she was actually not making any noise for once. “...die?”

Donald thought for a moment. “I’m not afraid.” 

“Really?”

“What, you are?”

She shrugged, a bit embarrassed to admit it. 

“Dying is just something we all have to go through. Except Uncle Scrooge.” He led her to his bare bed, and they sat down. “Are you afraid of getting taller?”

“No.”  


“Getting older?”  


“No. But -- all of that is different from dying!”  


“How would you know? You haven’t died, have you?”  


“Well…”  


“Well,” he cut her off. “You can’t be afraid of the unknown.”

That was a good point. “You’re smarter than you look,” she nodded.

He shoved her onto the floor. As she fell, she grabbed his elbow and yanked him down with her. They started wrestling. 

“I really hate you!”  
“No, you don’t!”  
“You’re right,” he panted. “I don’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha! A little of Don's bad-assery is showing as he manages to make it in despite being just 15! Donald had done TONS of things before the boys were born, so I mean he had to join sometime, right? 
> 
> Also y'all are going to have to bear with me for the next few chapters, I know nothing about the military haha. But I think it's a very important aspect of Donald's character and I did want to fit that in somewhere in this series.


	3. Adventure Awaits

Today was the day. 

Donald hauled his bag down the stairs and into the foyer, where he was met by Duckworth, Della, and Scrooge McDuck. He quickly put down the case and ran over to his butler, who quickly hid the handkerchief he had been dabbing his eyes with. “Good luck, Master Donald. Please, be careful.” 

“I will, Mister Duckworth.” 

The old dog offered a gloved hand. Donald pushed it away and gave him a strong hug instead. After an extremely brief moment, he felt Duckworth’s arms enveloping him. 

He turned to face his sister. “Del-” He was cut off by a squeeze that had the strength of a cobra. He wasn’t even sure if he was on the ground right now. He managed to wiggle out his arms in order to return the hug. After a long while, he had finally gathered enough breath to speak. “Hey, Della? You know what we talked about last night?” he whispered into her ear. He felt her nod against his cheek. “Even if that does happen, I’ve always got your back.” He offered his hand, and she gripped it tightly. 

“And I’ve got yours.”

“And Ducks don’t back down,” they said in a soft unison. They hugged one last time before Donald moved onto his last goodbye. He stood in front of his uncle, waiting for the old bird to say something, anything. 

All he got was a nod. 

He picked up his suitcase and headed for the bottom of Killmotor Hill.


	4. The First Set of Letters




	5. Scuffling Semantics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so what do you guys think? Octopi or octopuses? Let me know in the comments!  
> P.S. I hope you're enjoying so far!


	6. Della Earns Her Black Belt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My take on why Della recognized Beakley when she came back.


	7. An Iliadic Exchange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Donald's artwork was so bad, Della was forced to read the book (with a little help from Sparknotes). It actually wasn't that bad.


	8. From Duck to Swallow




	9. Heading Home




	10. Out of Minutes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked those little letters! I had a good time trying to figure out which fonts matched everyone. Onto the last chapter!

A tall caramel woman with an outfit crafted entirely of gold murmured distractedly as she threw another drachma into the fountain. Instead of sinking to the bottom, the coin shimmered and disappeared into the reflected light. The water churned and presented an image of a battered Pekin duck wearing soaked navy fatigues and dragging his feet up a steep hill. His exhaustion was stronger than gravity, and despite months of rigorous training, he kept sliding backwards through the mud, narrowly avoiding steaming strikes of lightning. She knew he was only sixteen, but under his blackened eyes she could see lines that gave him about ten more years. 

“All right, Ms. Adventure. It’s my turn to send an Iris message. Stop hogging all of the water!”

“Just one more minute, Hecate…” She needed to make sure that he was going to make the climb. She had already tempted fate by continuously bestowing her blessing upon him all of these years, but she couldn’t resist…

“ _Nerp_!” The impatient goddess stretched out her arm and conjured a burst of magic. She aimed her fingers at the fountain and let out a small shout. 

Xandra watched in horrific suspense as a collapsing Donald Duck rippled and vanished.

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Small spoilers!
> 
> Okay, so I don't think Donald is boring in the new series. I think he's a pretty mysterious guy with an interesting past, but he put that awesome lifestyle aside because 1.) the boys and 2.) he did not want anyone close to him meeting the same fate as Della. So he left adventure. But he MISSES it. With all of his heart. You guys saw how in "Moonvasion" and "Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks" how quickly he was to jump into stuff when he saw his sister was back! Adventuring is alright after all! Someone doesn't always get hurt! Faith restored! (-Huey Duck, "Who is Gizmoduck?")


End file.
